After a faint smile, Delta naturally took Enya’s hand.
She didn’t continue delving deeper into that topic, and Enya had no intention of pressing further.
After all, if someone wanted to tell you their secret, they would have done so long before you asked.
Delta led Enya up the wooden stairs to a door. Because she had transferred her power to Zeta, her body had shrunken, so she raised her small hand.
But before she could, Enya already grasped the doorknob.
Enya lowered her eyes and glanced at Delta, then with a little force, she pushed the door open from her side.
Her gaze shifted from the blue-haired fox lady to the room’s furnishings.
The place was filled with a dazzling array of items. On tables and shelves were many transparent and opaque jars.
Through the clear glass jars, various small things could be seen: living bugs, strange lumps of flesh and tissue, and even demon organs.
From this sight, the owner of the house was clearly a collector, or even more so, a hoarding enthusiast.
Enya lowered her eyes again to look at Delta beside her.
Delta was also looking up at her, a faint smile always on the blue-haired fox lady’s face. She led Enya inside.
After stepping through the door, Enya became a bit more cautious. Many things here were explosive and dangerous. She didn’t want to blow up the house the moment she arrived. She had already done that once…
Coincidentally, Enya stopped in front of a special glass jar. The jar was placed on a stand against the wall, about the size of a human head.
Its opening was covered with a black cloth etched with sealing runes, but through the transparent glass, she could see a fire butterfly dancing inside.
This fire butterfly was no ordinary creature. It was a strange being born in the Spirit Realm Sea, extremely rare.
The fire butterfly flapped its spark-like wings.
This little thing, smaller than Enya’s palm, scurried around as Enya approached.
Zeta saw this and said teasingly, “It recognized you.”
“Haha…” Enya chuckled awkwardly. Then her pale golden pupils transformed into a pair of golden-red vertical pupils. A hint of pressure seeped into the jar, and the fire butterfly immediately fell to the bottom.
Seeing this, Enya gave a silent snort, then withdrew the pressure she was emitting and retracted her golden-red dragon eyes.
After two seconds, the fire butterfly in the jar began to fly again, but it no longer dared to squawk at Enya, demanding that she let it out. Even its flying speed slowed considerably. It was truly terrified.
Delta saw it all, but she didn’t bother with it. Anything locked in a jar was a prisoner, nothing more.
The last time, Enya was fooled by this butterfly, causing a huge mess and forcing her to owe a big favor, which she barely managed to repay.
After passing through the main hall, the two entered the study.
Although it was also filled with jars and bottles, compared to the bizarre items outside, these contained only plant specimens and even special flowers growing in jars.
Delta pulled out a chair, climbed onto it with both hands, but still felt the angle was too low.
She added a few books under her bottom and, after confirming it was comfortable, pointed to the other chair.
“Sit.”
Enya nodded, moved the chair over, and sat across from Delta. One dragon and one fox looked at each other across the table.
Delta smiled and said, “It’s nice that you came to see me.”
“…”
Although Enya wanted to say, ‘You were the one who made Zeta drag me here,’ she thought about it and decided it was better to stay quiet.
Delta fluttered her long eyelashes, as if something had occurred to her.
She jumped down from the tall chair, her long hair and skirt trailing behind her, and ran barefoot out of the study. Soon after, she returned carrying a box.
She placed the box on the table and pushed it toward Enya.
Enya stretched her neck slightly to look inside the open box.
Even though she had smelled the buttery aroma of baked cookies the moment Delta entered, she still couldn’t believe Delta had done this.
Knowing Delta, she would probably pull out a stitched monster that smelled like baked cookies.
Enya’s gaze fell into the box, and she saw that it was indeed small cookies—just a bit burnt and ugly in appearance.
She reached out, pinched one, and took a bite without hesitation.
After tasting it, she gave her verdict: “A bit salty.”
“I didn’t add salt.”
Delta’s fox ears twitched. She also reached for a cookie and took a bite. After a long pause, she said, “It is quite salty.”
“Still, the taste isn’t bad, right?”
Enya ate another one and calmly added that comment.
Delta’s smile brightened considerably.
They didn’t speak much, but every word seemed carefully crafted, carrying hidden thoughts. Enya took the initiative to ask, “Why did you start baking cookies?”
“The last time you made them, they were really good. I watched the whole process and tried to do it myself, but I just can’t get it right.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah.”
Delta smiled sweetly.
Looking at her like that, Enya sighed helplessly. “Then I’ll teach you.”
“Okay.”
That was five or six years ago.
If she still hadn’t learned after all that time, there was only one reason: Delta was faking it. Even so, Enya willingly walked into her trap.
While preparing the ingredients, Enya scanned the room full of collections. She paused for a moment, then looked at Delta, who was carrying a bag of wheat flour.
Meeting the blue-haired fox lady’s puzzled gaze, Enya took a deep breath and asked, “A thousand years—would that be boring?”
“It might be.”
“What about two thousand years?”
“Probably.”
Delta’s smile remained, but her fox-like eyes seemed to hold a deeper meaning as she looked at the questioning Enya.
Enya’s expression didn’t change. She continued, “Three thousand years?”
“An eternal life, an eternal loneliness—that would indeed be boring.”
Delta lowered her gaze and stared blankly into space for a while.
Then she continued, “Even if a creature lives only a hundred years, it will seek something to do—either find a mate to reproduce, or venture into danger to chase sensory thrills.”
“And try to collect all kinds of things.”
Enya looked at the blue-haired fox lady, whose body was small but whose mind was extremely mature, and almost bluntly said that.
Delta nodded, but she didn’t continue on that topic.
The two entered the kitchen one after the other, as if the previous conversation had never happened. Enya was perfectly adept at making cookies; cooking had always been her strength.
As she prepared the cookie dough, Enya pondered some things.
In this Misty Maple Forest, every fox lady she had met had different hobbies.
Delta collected all sorts of strange items, but it wasn’t that she enjoyed it—it was simply a pastime in her long life.
Zeta worked outside as an assassin, which seemed to be her way of passing the time.
They weren’t ordinary fox clan beastmen; otherwise, they couldn’t share power between sisters. Most likely, they were once one entity that split apart for some reason. Of course, they were still connected.
They all had long lives, felt boredom and weariness, and did things as tools to kill time.
Enya wondered: what about Antiros? The Witch Lady had lived since ancient times. Did she get bored? Did she do things to pass the time?
There had always been a legend that every so often, someone would meet the Ancient Witch and receive a mysterious inheritance from antiquity.
That person would surely become the one who led the era’s development.
Was that her way of killing time?
Almost everyone thought Enya was that chosen one…
But Enya didn’t think she was!
Antiros wasn’t teaching her as a student just for fun. Enya vaguely felt that perhaps Vivienne was the real one.
As she was lost in thought, Delta sidled up to her, looked up with a hint of sourness in her tone, and said, “Enya, are you thinking about me?”
“…”
Enya snapped back to reality but was stumped by the question.